Birthday.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Happy Review World Cup! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday! Here's yet another Azula short. I just can't keep myself sane without doing these. (no pun intended.) This one is sad, but if ya clicked it, you were expecting that. ;) It takes place in the mental facility about a a year and a half after her downfall. I put a lottt into this piece here, and it's my personal favorite that I've ever written! :D Like always, this is for ATLA and Non-ATLA fans alike. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy!

Birthday.

Azula let out a low scream as she jerked violently up from her fitful slumber. The fallen princess felt the rhythms of her heart rise and fall in uneven disarray as she frantically shed what seemed to be an endless series of prison blankets. The dry cell air felt cold against the sticky dampness of her cheeks and the unforgiving darkness exerted a claustrophobic effect upon her. She felt her throat grow sore and her lips begin to quiver. "Tears?" she thought with disgust, "How dare they! How dare they try to make a fool out of me!" Azula rolled restlessly from one end of her cot to the other, all the while struggling not to let them come flowing from her puffy golden eyes. Just as she was ready to burst with heaving sobs, there came a flash of blue light and the very soul who had caused her to awaken so abruptly entered her pitch-black cell. Azula could not see the visitor, but she could feel their prescence with every fiber of her being.

"W-who's there?", she cried meekly. Azula grabbed one of her blankets off of the ground and pulled it over her face in an attempt to hide her shame, for she was well aware of who it was. Besides, nobody else had ever come to visit her here. Nobody real, at least.

"Hello, 'Zula. It's just me again. Please come out from there. I want to see you." The gentle sound of her mother's voice made Azula feel sick to her stomach. Still hiding beneath the cover of her blanket, Azula took a deep breath before responding. She mustn't let her mother see her cry. That was shameful. It was dishonorable. Her inability to reproduce an authoritative tone of voice made her eyes water even more. Instead, she spoke in a cracked murmur as she desperately pulled the blanket off of her head.

"W-Why do you want to see me?...I lost. I know who you want to see. He's been wanting to see you too. Now i suggest you leave me immediately." There was a long silence. Azula felt her mother coming closer to her cot, but could not see her. All she could see was darkness. She had never been so afraid in her life. Once again, Azula attempted to put on her battered facade and once again, she had failed. The frightened prisoner felt the stingy warmth of large and unwelcomed tears trickling down her face and her hands began to tremble lightly.

"What are you doing?", began Azula in what sounded to her like more of a tortured gasp than actual words "Stay back, fool!" Silence. Only the darkness seemed to have heard her. Azula stood up from her cot and stepped into a loose fire bending stance. She let out a frustrated screech before speaking to her mother again in the same tortured murmur.

"Listen, Peasant...go away...get out of my sight...leave me be..." With each empty command, Azula felt a fragment of her false confidence begin to come back to her. "Father banished you for a reason. You...are weak...and you have brought dishonor to our family. I suggest you-" Just as Azula began to step back into an offensive stance, there came another flash of blue light in her cell, this time much brighter than before. A glowing blue likeness of her mother appeared in front of her, a somber frown upon her face. The vision towered over her and it's shiny golden eyes peered sadly into her own. Azula staggered backwards in a confused state of panic.

"Oh, 'Zula," began Ursa in a soft, affectionate tone "Please get your rest. I love you. I really do. It's you I wanted to see. It's always you I want to see...Especially today."

"No! You've always hated-"

"No, Azula. You are just lost...so, so lost. And you've always been lost...because of me." Azula's lips began to quiver once again as she backed into a dark corner of her cell. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a dry cackle as she attempted to mask her pain. She couldn't let her mother see her cry. She couldn't give her the satisfaction. She couldn't take her eye off of the ball.

"Azula? What are you so frightened for? Please don't be frightened. It's okay to cry. Besides, it's your birthday...The big sixteen. I couldn't miss it." Azula's blood ran cold and her legs felt wobbly. How hadn't she remembered that herself, and how had her mother remembered? She felt the unforgiving cold of the iron walls of her cell against her fingertips as she came tumbling down from her standing position. The girl buried her face in her hands and began to cry softly. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming warmth engulf her as the vision floated gently towards her and wrapped its arms around her.

"M-Mother? Why are you doing this? I lied. I cheated. I hurt thousands of people and felt nothing. I truly am a monster."

"No, Azula. You were afraid. I love you. And Happy Birthday." This last statement was the last straw and caused the frail prisoner to heave with choked sobs, all the while trying to free herself from her mother's embrace.

"No, Mother.", she cried, "I know the truth! You hate me! You always have! You never sang me lullabies or watched me practice my forms...and it hurt...more than anything."

"Shh. Just breathe. Just breathe deeply, 'Zula. I'm sorry. I wasn't there for you, and I'm sorry." All of a sudden, the broken prisoner began to feel more relaxed, and her heaving sobs became lighter. As she looked up at her mother, Azula saw something she had never expected to have seen on her mother's face. A single shining blue tear was making its way down her cheek. As she looked into her mother's eyes, Azula was greeted with a profoundly unsettling image. It was her reflection. Her wiry black hair seemed to dance about her head in wild disarray and two large, dark circles surrounded her teary eyes. By now, Azula had given up on trying to seem like none of it bothered her. Her whole world had been shattered by the Avatar and her brother. They had taken everything from her. Her honor, her throne, her place in history, and most of all, her chances of ever actually reconciling with her mother. The former princess began to tremble all over as she opened her mouth to speak again.

"Mother," she whispered lightly, "I love you too...very much. But-"

"What is it, 'Zula?", replied the vision, a hint of worry in her somber voice.

"But am I pretty?", hissed Azula wildly.

"Why, of course you are...you've always been." Azula smiled from ear to ear, tears still filling her eyes, and let out her first laugh in what seemed like an eternity. It took the form of a disturbed cackle, and actually frightened her mother.

"Well," inquired Azula eagerly, "What about my hair?" Her mother smiled gently before beginning in a tone which Azula thought was only reserved for her brother.

"Your hair...so beautiful. I always thought you had beautiful hair." Azula's eyes were filled with crazed excitement and the girl began to rock gently back and forth as if this compliment were not enough. Her mother paused as she began to search her heart for something more to add. "That day of your Agni Kai with Zuko-" Ursa paused once again and saw her daughter's lips curl into a trembling frown. She waited a few seconds before she continuing. Something about Azula worried her greatly, and Ursa began to wonder whether or not this impromptu birthday visit was doing her any good. "That day of your...coronation...I was so proud of you. But so hurt to see you two fighting. And you...you cut your hair." Azula began to hyperventilate and a psychotic glow shone brightly in her golden irises.

"No, Mother," she chided nervously as she shook her head wildly back and forth with her hands on top of it. " Stop these games. You're like Uncle! Always playing games! What do you really think of my hair? My uneven, untamed hair!" Azula pulled frantically at the single strand of dark hair that had fallen between her eyes.

"Well...I-I told you. I think it's beautiful. And I think you're beautiful." Azula rolled onto her side and crawled slowly out of her mother's embrace. The cell was filled with the sound of dry cackles mixed in with suppressed sobs. Time was running out. It was almost sunrise, and Ursa had not the slightest clue how to make her daughter feel better before her special night was over.

"Oh, Mother!" Azula screeched, "You lie so well! You lie so easily! If only I could have been more like you, Mother! If only I could have been Zu-Zu! You'd...love me for real then. This is a d-dream! Nothing more! You are a bad lie! A fake. Aren't you? Ursa frowned heavily and took a deep breath before interrupting Azula's cackling fit.

"Azula. Please come back to me. Please hug your mother. I love you. I really do." These familiar words were all the bewildered Fire Lady could muster. Azula began to sob uncontrollably and she nearly doubled over with laughter.

"You can't trick me, woman! Leave me be!", cried Azula in a cracked sob. The Fire Lady gave a shudder and looked at her daughter as tourists do a caged animal that hasn't eaten in months. Ursa gently raised her glowing blue hand and extended it to her daughter only to watch her jerk back into the darkness, utterly frightened.

"What are you trying to do to me, woman?" shouted Azula, "Don't you know what today is?" The vision sighed deeply before delivering her response.

"Azula. It's your birth-"

"Nonsense! I don't have time for your trivial little talks! You are a traitor to father and to the fire nation and you are a traitor to.." Azula began to sob even harder. "...You betrayed me and left me alone. With nobody to call..." The girl turned herself over so that she was lying on her side. Ursa could hardly make out what her daughter was trying to tell her. "W-why jjj-j why-you l-left me...Moth-Mother?" The Fire Lady felt a great lump in her throat and began to weep fresh hot tears for her fallen princess. She covered her mouth in astonishment at the awful scene of Azula rolling back and forth on the cold cell floor, a puddle of tears accumulating beneath her. It was too late.

"Azula," whispered the Fire Lady through a few uneven cries, "I just...Just know that your Mother loves you. And that...she always will...Goodbye...And Happy Birthday, 'Zula." A continuous series of piercing screams was Azula's only response. Ursa gave a frantic gasp as she realized just how long she had been out of the Spirit World. It was time for her to go, and a profound emptiness took root within her aching heart. Without a moments hesitation, the Fire Lady rose from her position and floated over her screaming daughter's shivering body and through the wall of the cell. Once again, all was quiet and, once again, only the darkness kept Azula company as her tortured weeping echoed throughout the unbroken silence of the asylum corridors.

Epilogue. (WARNING: Sadder than the rest!)

*Bang. Bang. Bang.*

"Hey! 22034! Get up! It's time for your shower!" A single disgruntled prison guard kicked the door of Azula's cell open with reckless abandon. "What the-" As he stepped into the lonely cell, the scent of cold metal pervaded his senses. The prisoner was nowhere to be found and the darkness was overwhelming. "22034! Show yourself now or face Solitary Confinement!" He was much too frightened to realize that Solitary Confinement was where Azula had already been for the last seventeen months. Not even the pervasive darkness could have prepared him for what he would see next.

The guard lit a flame with his fingertips and placed it into what felt like an iron wall sconce. The cell became illuminated with a flickering orange glow. "Huh?" he thought to himself in terrified panic, "She must've escaped!" Just as he turned to go to the Warden's Quarters, the guard caught a glimpse of a peculiar scene through the corner of his eye. In the far corner of the cell opposite the cot laid prisoner 22034, shivering uncontrollably and repeating something in a tortured murmur that was hardly audible. The guard stepped cautiously over to the prisoner and turned her over. Her bony shoulderblades felt hard against his palm. "Ahh!" he screamed as he saw the face of the fallen princess. Her golden eyes were wide open and her pale lips seemed to be locked into a melancholy grin. The frightened guard caught sight of a mysterious series of etchings completely covering the wall behind her, all reading "Mother lovszz me, and I'm sixzzteen." This was what she had been murmuring all this time. He felt his blood run cold and an icy chill ran down his spine. "Pull it together, Riyu," he coaxed himself, " What do you expect, man? She's turned. These people are crazies. This happens all the time." Riyu set the still-trembling prisoner down upon the stony iron floor and made a full sprint out of the cell and towards the Warden's Quarters. Fire Lady Ursa wept quietly from the Spirit World as she watched in melancholy awe of what had become of her little Azula.

The End.

"If only I could have been more like you, Mother!"

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And no, I don't know how to delete those bullet points down there...